Days 28 to 30 - San Francisco to Monterey - Riding the California Dream

October 7, 2022 to October 9, 2022

Days 28 to 30 - San Francisco to Monterey

Rolling along

Day 28 - San Francisco to Pescadero

The days are beginning to blur together. My adventure out of SF began with a persistent clicking noise and difficulty changing gears. So, I hightailed it over to Columbus Cyclery at the recommendation of a fellow traveler.

When I arrived at the shop, it was closed - opening at 10:00. It was 9:30, so I decided to wait. At 9:40, the owner (I assumed) arrived to open and asked what I needed. Once I explained my situation, he brought me right in, even though he wasn’t officially opened, and put my bike on the stand.

Both my derailers were slightly bent — probably from being manhandled and banged around with 15 other bikes in the hostel storage room. The young man (I never did get his name) had them straightened and dialed in within 30 minutes. I was impressed with his skill and professionalism, so if you’re ever in need of bicycle repair in San Francisco, go to Columbus Cyclery.

I finally got on the road at around 10. I knew it would be a long day with lots of climbing and figured I’d make it to camp at around 5:00. I wasn’t wrong.

First, I had to navigate the bicycle path in the marina district, which was packed with pedestrians, cyclists, police, etc. due to the Fleet Week activities beginning on this day. I was really sorry I had to leave — it would have been fun to stick around and watch the shows. But Pescadero was calling.

Riding through the Presidio and Golden Gate parks was a lovely (if occasionally steep) way to get to the coast, where the fog was waiting for me as I turned south, and followed the line of sand dunes and beaches through Daly City. Riding through the residential area, I couldn’t help but think of the song, Little Boxes, which was inspired by the cookie-cutter sameness of the Daly City homes.

Once through Daly City, the route followed the coastline through Pacifica, Moss Beach, and into Half Moon Bay. The sun came out for a bit, and I enjoyed watching the many surfers I saw along the way — more and more as I approached the Bay. About half way, I stopped at a park to eat my lunch and then quickly got on the road again, as I was conscious of the time. I enjoyed the rest of the ride, observing the magnificent and constantly changing landscape, but didn’t really stop again until I reached the KOA campground at the south end of Pescadero.

Taking the path from the hostel down toward the bay. (Linda and Mercedes are in front of the joggers.)

A view of the Golden Gate above the Presidio buildings.

Surfers at Moss Beach near Half Moon Bay.

A arch of eucalyptus trees line the driveway into the campground.

Day 29 - Pescadero to Santa Cruz

Thankfully today would be a short day, only around 40 miles, and there would be time to spend in Santa Cruz itself before arriving at the Santa Cruz KOA. having grown up in the SF Bay area, I have been to Santa Cruz many times in my life and, in fact, the iconic Big Dipper roller coaster was the first coaster I ever rode and is still my favorite to this day. I love the boardwalk, with all the people and activity. A fun place to people watch, for sure.

The night had been foggy and cold, and our tents were wet as we took them down and prepared to ride. The sky showed promise as I left the camp, riding alone again, toward Santa Cruz.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the fog closed in. So I didn’t take a lot of pictures today, as there wasn’t much variation. However, it was a pleasant ride, hugging the coastline on Hwy 1, with a little less climbing then previous days — the hills were more like really long, steep rollers near the beginning of the ride and then flattening out toward the end.

After a while, I caught up with Bob, Mac, and Scott, and we rode together for a while. When we reached Santa Cruz, Mac and I broke off from the group in search of coffee. We found our way to Eleventh Hour Coffee, which I had been to before, and I had a delicious almond tart pastry along with my caffeine. After our coffee break, we went in search of an outdoor store because Mac needed to replace his headlamp. We ended up at Downs, an outdoor store housed in a literal house — tiny, but packed with everything you might need for camping and backpacking.

Mission accomplished, we headed back to continue our route along the coast and bicycle paths of Santa Cruz. We passed through the boardwalk and along the beaches, where I took a picture of a sunken boat that intrigued me and for which I have no information.

Some blue sky on the morning, but not for long.

The ocean view, cold and gray. Still, surfers were out in the water as birds soared over their heads.

When we arrived at the KOA, we discovered that our sites were extremely small, and had to place our tents right next to each other. A veritable little tent village.

One of our sites, showing the tents packed together.

Not only that, but apparently the KOA was having a weekend Halloween celebration, a traditional event that draws hundreds of families each year. So our campground was filled with little and big trick-or-treaters in all manner of costume. The atmosphere was festive, and LOUD.

Campers staying in cabins had set up elaborate candy stations through the campground.

One of the candy stations, attended by Frankenstein.

This station was set up like a pirate ship.

The festivities went on long into the night, and I discovered how well the noise cancellation works on my AirPods (excellently) and slept well listening to the soothing sounds of the ocean, courtesy of Siri.

Day 30 - Santa Cruz to Monterey

It rained during the night. Not real rain, but fog collected and dripping from the eucalyptus trees over our heads. Either way, we were pretty wet yet again. And today was fog all the way to Monterey — a short 33 miles.

A large group of us rode together, and I ended up not stopping to take any pictures, except for one in the morning as we were getting ready to roll. I did capture some of the ride on GoPro, which I will add later.

Early on, one of our group had a flat tire that delayed us some as we rode through the beautiful and incredibly enormous farmed fields of strawberries, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, artichoke, and lettuces in the Castroville region.

In Marina, we switched over to a bike trail, which took us all the way over the dunes and into Monterey via Seaside.

We are staying in the Veterans Memorial park at the south end of the bay. Thankfully it’s quiet and we have an entire group area to ourselves. It’s cold and overcast, and the forecast for tomorrow is much the same. I’m enjoying a little down time — and time to update this blog.

Tomorrow we have a long, 75 mile ride scheduled that will take us all the way through Big Sur and to Plaskett Creek. Wish me luck!

At the Santa Cruz KOA, getting ready to ride.

Today's ride: 138 miles (222 km)
Total: 1,203 miles (1,936 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0